Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

North Korea: Conflict Prevention

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government why they have not undertaken a Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability assessment of the situation in North Korea; and what plans they have, if any, to undertake that assessment.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We regularly review the situation on the Korean Peninsula. The UK is committed to securing peace and we are clear that North Korea's nuclear and weapons programmes must be dismantled to ensure stability in the region. The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) issues an annual report covering threats to conflict and stability worldwide. Further reports and assessments of a specific nature are released on a case by case basis.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that four UK medical staff were injured in a bombing of the facilities of International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with the government of Israel regarding the safety of UK and international non-governmental organisations delivering humanitarian aid and medical help in safe zones in Gaza.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The safety of humanitarian personnel and healthcare workers in Gaza is critical to enable aid to reach those who need it most. We continue to call for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to be respected. Too many civilians have been killed and we want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes.The Foreign Secretary underlined the need for Israel to ensure effective deconfliction in Gaza and to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of medical personnel and facilities during his visit to Israel on 24 January.

Ukraine: International Assistance

Lord Campbell-Savours: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total cost to the United Kingdom of all forms of non-military support to Ukraine since December 2021.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to secure a just and lasting peace underpinned by the UN Charter. The FCDO's non-military support to Ukraine since the start of the invasion amounts to £4.7 billion. This includes over £4.2 billion fiscal support through World Bank loan guarantees and grants; £357 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and the region; £150 million to support Ukraine's energy security and resilience; and £2.5 million in support for Ukraine's domestic prosecution of international crimes.

Gaza: Genocide Convention

Baroness Janke: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to monitor Israel’s compliance with the interim ruling of the International Court of Justice regarding its conduct in the conflict in Gaza.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We respect the role and independence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas in line with International Humanitarian Law, as we have said from the outset. We have long advocated for the release of hostages and the need to get more aid in. We are clear that an immediate pause is necessary to get aid in and hostages out, and then we want to build towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to the fighting.

Israel: Arms Trade

Baroness Janke: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will review their policy regarding the export of arms to Israel in light of the International Court of Justice’s interim ruling regarding the conflict in Gaza.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We regularly review advice about Israel's capability and commitment to International Humanitarian Law, and act in accordance with that advice, for example when considering export licences. We support Israel's legitimate right to defend itself and take action against terrorism, within the bounds of International Humanitarian Law.We respect the role and independence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, we have stated that we have considerable concerns about this case, which is not helpful in the goal of achieving a sustainable ceasefire.

Middle East: Armed Conflict

Lord Sedwill: To ask His Majesty's Government whetherthey have made any representations to the governments of (1) India, or (2) China, regarding Iran’s support for militias attacking western forces and international shipping in the Middle East.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Defence Secretary raised Iran backed Houthi rebels attacking international shipping in the Middle East with his Indian counterpart in January. India is contributing to international naval efforts to help secure shipping in the region. We also raised this with China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urging them to use their relationship with Iran to convey that Iran should pressure the Houthis in line with China's call for the cessation of attacks and harassment against civilian ships.

Pakistan: Ahmadiyya

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government when they last held discussions regarding the civil and democratic rights of Ahmadi citizens in Pakistan with (1) the government of Pakistan, and (2) with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth; and what responses they received.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: On 19 January, I raised the need for inclusivity in the upcoming elections with Pakistan's Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani.  On 25 September 2023, the former Foreign Secretary raised the importance of credible, inclusive, and timely elections with Pakistan's Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar. On 21 August, I wrote to Foreign Minister Jilani to raise concerns about the treatment of minority religious communities and underline the need to ensure all Pakistan's citizens, including Ahmadi Muslims, are able to exercise their democratic rights. There have been no recent discussions between HMG and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth on Ahmadi citizens in Pakistan. At CHOGM 2022 Commonwealth leaders endorsed specific language, proposed by the UK, that noted that freedom of religion or belief are cornerstones of democratic societies.

Treasury

Development Aid: National Income

The Lord Bishop of Norwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Autumn Statement 2023, what assessment they have made of the suitability of the economic climate to enable them to return Official Development Assistance to 0.7 per cent of gross national income.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The government remains committed to returning to a target of spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA when, on a sustainable basis, the government is not borrowing for day-to-day spending and underlying debt is falling.

Public Expenditure: Northern Ireland

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, following a request from the Northern Ireland Executive for increased funding from Britain, what steps they are taking, if any, to (1) review their current funding offer, and (2) negotiate a new offer.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The UK Government are providing the newly restored Northern Ireland Executive with a financial package worth over £3.3 billion to support a restored Executive with the immediate and unique challenges facing the people of Northern Ireland, and to provide the necessary tools to deliver long-term sustainability. As committed to in the financial package, we will engage with the Northern Ireland Executive on a long-term fiscal framework for Northern Ireland.

Mortgages: Interest Rates

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the recent fall in mortgage rates on the wider UK economy.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The path to lower interest rates is through low inflation, and the government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England get inflation back down to the 2% target, including by keeping borrowing under control. The pricing and availability of mortgages is ultimately a commercial decision for lenders, in which the Government does not intervene. But our plan to bring inflation down is working. Average offered mortgage rates on 2-year and 5-year fixed rates have also fallen from their peak in Summer 2023. The Bank of England has outlined some of the links between interest rates, housing markets and wider economic activity in its November 2023 and February 2024 Monetary Policy Reports.

Public Expenditure: Scotland

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussionsthey have had with the Scottish Government since it projected a potential £1 billion resource spending gap in 2024–25, rising to £1.9 billion by 2027–28.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury engages regularly with the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance to discuss matters relating to Scottish Government funding. They met most recently in Edinburgh on 25 January at the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee. The UK Government is providing the Scottish Government with a record block grant settlement of £41 billion per year over this Spending Review. On top of this, the Scottish Government is receiving over £2 billion in additional funding through the Barnett formula over 2023-24 and 2024-25 as a result of decisions taken at fiscal events. In August 2023, the UK and Scottish Government reached agreement on an updated Fiscal Framework for the Scottish Government. This included provision to maintain the Scottish Government’s preferred block grant adjustment methodology to account for tax and welfare devolution, remove drawdown limits from the Scotland Reserve and increase the Scottish Government’s borrowing and reserve limits in line with inflation each year.

Public Sector: Redundancy Pay

Lord Kempsell: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have further plans to reform or improve controls around high exit payments in the public sector, and whethertheyare considering reintroducing a cap on very high public sector exit payments.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Government maintains its commitment to ensuring that public sector exit payments are fair and proportionate to employers, employees and taxpayers. We continue to look at different options to tackle large exit payments and consulted on introducing additional controls in 2022. The Government is considering the responses to this consultation and will publish a response in due course.

Banking Hubs

Lord Stunell: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on the delivery of the banking hubs and delivery hubs recommended by Link for locations which have been identified as lacking in services, such as Marple in Greater Manchester; and what steps are they planning to ensure that delivery is accelerated.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: Banking Hubs are a voluntary industry initiative, which enable customers of participating banks to access cash and banking services in shared facilities. To date, LINK has recommended over 100 Banking Hubs across the UK. Over 30 Banking Hubs have opened, with a further 70 expected to open by the end of the year. LINK has also recommended cash deposit services in another 90 communities, including Marple in Greater Manchester. While industry is responsible for delivering these services, the government is closely monitoring the rollout and hopes to see facilities open as soon as possible. Separately, the government has legislated to protect access to cash specifically. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 provides the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. Following the conclusion of its consultation on 8 February, the FCA expects to finalise its rules in Q3 2024.

Child Trust Fund

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to The Share Foundation on 23 January where he stated that "the government currently has no plans to introduce a 'Default Withdrawal at 21' process" for unclaimed and unregistered HMRC-allocated child trust funds, what are their reasons for declining this proposal.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The government carefully considered the proposal outlined in The Share Foundation’s letter of 24 November 2023 and decided it was not deliverable for several reasons. The Share Foundation have proposed a complex scheme which would require the co-operation of ISA and Child Trust Fund (CTF) managers, other Government Departments and banks and building societies to identify the relevant young people (and whether they are in receipt of benefits or government payments) and to facilitate the transfer of information and funds between those agencies. Such a scheme is likely to engage with data protection issues and interfere with an individual’s right to manage their own financial affairs.The Government attaches great importance to ensuring young people can access their matured CTFs. HMRC assists these young people through its online tracing service and through targeted communications appropriate to the age group. It will continue its work with providers, industry representatives and other stakeholders exploring ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.

Home Office

Passports: Ethnic Groups

Lord Blunkett: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 31 January (HL1679), whether they plan to review the algorithms used in the automatic verification of passport photographs to ensure that they account for ethnic diversity, notwithstanding any direct human intervention.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The initial check to determine if a photo meets the internationally agreed standards for passports utilises an algorithm provided by a leading technology provider and, through extensive testing, this has been optimised to help best meet the needs of His Majesty’s Passport Office and its customers. HM Passport Office is committed to making applying for a passport as simple as possible and will continue to evolve its photo checker as algorithmic technology improves.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Museums and Galleries: Pay

Lord Freyberg: To ask His Majesty's Government what guidelines, policies, or codes of conduct exist that govern the remuneration provided to artists engaged by UK National Museums and Galleries; and what mechanisms are in place to monitor and enforce adherence to these standards.

Lord Freyberg: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a code of conduct to ensure that the remuneration provided to artists engaged by UK National Museums and Galleries meets or exceeds the national minimum living wage.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: Creative and cultural practitioners are vital to the work of our museums and galleries: they bring independent visions and ideas, and offer highly developed specialist skills to the work of these institutions.As the national museums and galleries operate at arm’s length from His Majesty's Government, the Department does not monitor payments made to artists or any other people working as contractors or freelancers at them.While the Government has no plans to introduce a code of conduct, Arts Council England — the publicly-funded development agency for the arts and museums — has produced guidance outlining best practice for working with freelancers, without whom so much of the creative and cultural sectors could not operate. This is complemented by guidance from sector organisations such as the Museums Association.

Commercial Broadcasting: Radio

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of commercial radio in the UK.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: His Majesty’s Government strongly supports a vibrant radio sector, including national and local commercial stations as well as community stations and the BBC, which between them provide a rich variety of choice for listeners across the UK.The UK’s commercial radio sector now accounts for approximately 55% of radio listening in the UK, according to figures published by RAJAR for Quarter 4 2023, with 39 million people tuning in to national or local commercial stations at least once a week. This compares to 42% of radio listening and 34 million listeners in Quarter 4 2013. The growth in commercial radio listening over the past 10 years is thanks to the investment the sector has made to develop and grow new services and its ability to adapt what it offers to listeners on digital radio or via internet-connected devices such as smart speakers.The measures in the Media Bill to reduce regulatory burdens on commercial radio and to secure protections for the carriage of radio on smart speaker devices are intended to help support and secure commercial radio’s long-term future.

Department for Education

Children in Care

Lord Laming: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that young children in public care are not placed in unregistered accommodation.

Baroness Barran: The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:Investing £36 million to support over 60% of all local authorities in England to recruit and retain more foster carers.Investing over £142 million up to 2025 to implement new mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers who accommodate 16 and 17 year old looked-after children and care leavers, in addition to banning the placement of under-16s in supported accommodation.Working with the sector to co-design and develop regional care co-operative pathfinders, which will plan, commission, and deliver children’s social care placements.Investing £259 million capital funding for secure and open children’s homes.Introducing a new market oversight regime that will increase financial transparency across the sector, for example, of ownership, debt structures and profit making.Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.Stable_Homes_PDF (pdf, 1604.6KB)

Children: Care Homes

Lord Laming: To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to achieve a better distribution of residential care homes for children so that they are not placed great distances from their families, friends and school.

Baroness Barran: The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:Investing £36 million to support over 60% of all local authorities in England to recruit and retain more foster carers.Investing over £142 million up to 2025 to implement new mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers who accommodate 16 and 17 year old looked-after children and care leavers, in addition to banning the placement of under-16s in supported accommodation.Working with the sector to co-design and develop regional care co-operative pathfinders, which will plan, commission, and deliver children’s social care placements.Investing £259 million capital funding for secure and open children’s homes.Introducing a new market oversight regime that will increase financial transparency across the sector, for example, of ownership, debt structures and profit making.Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.Stable_Homes_PDF (pdf, 1604.6KB)

Children: Care Homes

Lord Laming: To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking in response to the final report of the Competition and Markets Authority's children’s social care market study published on 10 March 2022, particularly with regard to the finding on excessive charging by private providers of residential care homes for children in public care.

Baroness Barran: The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:Investing £36 million to support over 60% of all local authorities in England to recruit and retain more foster carers.Investing over £142 million up to 2025 to implement new mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers who accommodate 16 and 17 year old looked-after children and care leavers, in addition to banning the placement of under-16s in supported accommodation.Working with the sector to co-design and develop regional care co-operative pathfinders, which will plan, commission, and deliver children’s social care placements.Investing £259 million capital funding for secure and open children’s homes.Introducing a new market oversight regime that will increase financial transparency across the sector, for example, of ownership, debt structures and profit making.Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.Stable_Homes_PDF (pdf, 1604.6KB)

Children in Care

Lord Laming: To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to tackle the increase of children being taken into public care.

Baroness Barran: The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:Investing £36 million to support over 60% of all local authorities in England to recruit and retain more foster carers.Investing over £142 million up to 2025 to implement new mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers who accommodate 16 and 17 year old looked-after children and care leavers, in addition to banning the placement of under-16s in supported accommodation.Working with the sector to co-design and develop regional care co-operative pathfinders, which will plan, commission, and deliver children’s social care placements.Investing £259 million capital funding for secure and open children’s homes.Introducing a new market oversight regime that will increase financial transparency across the sector, for example, of ownership, debt structures and profit making.Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.Stable_Homes_PDF (pdf, 1604.6KB)

Financial Services: Education

Lord Cruddas: To ask His Majesty's Government what researchthey have carried out onhow other countries have addressed the introduction of financial literacy into their schools, in particular in Denmark, Norway and Sweden; and whether they have any plans to follow those models.

Baroness Barran: The government has not carried out its own research into how other countries have addressed the introduction of financial literacy in their schools.The curriculum in England already includes compulsory financial education within the national curriculum for mathematics at key stages 1 to 4, and citizenship at key stages 3 and 4. Primary schools can choose to teach citizenship at key stages 1 and 2, using non-statutory programmes of study.Evidence from the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment suggests there is a strong correlation between performance in financial literacy and performance in mathematics; and a positive correlation between financial literacy performance and learning finance-related terms at school. This evidence is available on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.oecd.org/education/pisa-2018-results-volume-iv-48ebd1ba-en.htm.Since 2014, the government has transformed the way mathematics is taught in schools through the introduction of mastery pedagogy based on top performing East Asian countries. Mastery aims to ensure that pupils secure the deep knowledge and understanding of mathematics which provides the underlying knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. The Maths Hubs’ Teaching for Mastery programme aims to reach 75% of primary schools and 65% of secondary schools by 2025.Oak National Academy is also developing free, optional and adaptable resources for schools. Oak has published its initial mathematics resources, with the full curriculum available by this autumn. As part of this, Oak is exploring including additional lessons in real life mathematics. Secondary citizenship resources will become available from autumn 2024 and will be complete by autumn 2025.The department continues to work closely with HM Treasury and the Money and Pensions Service, to support their efforts to coordinate the work of organisations involved in delivering the goals set out in the National Strategy for Financial Wellbeing 2020. This includes monitoring the evidence base for financial education to understand what works and what further support schools may need.

Mathematics and Science: Teachers

Baroness Garden of Frognal: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) recruit, and (2) retain, more science and maths teachers in schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the gender divide amongst science and maths teachers in order to provide more positive role models for girls in the classroom.

Baroness Barran: The department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax. These payments will incentivise the recruitment and retention of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers within the schools where they are needed most.The department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainee teachers to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. This is alongside delivering a £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country, with a pay award of up to 7.1% for new teachers outside London.This academic year, physics trainees from overseas are also eligible for bursaries and scholarships, and for a one-off payment of £10,000 as part of the international relocation payment pilot.To encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher, the department has also launched the ‘Engineers teach physics’ Initial Teacher Training course. Following a pilot in 2022, the department has now rolled this out nationally.The department is also taking action to support all teachers to stay in the profession and thrive and has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and to support schools to introduce flexible working practices.On the subject of diverse teacher role models in science and mathematics, there remains a larger proportion of female teachers than male teachers in state-funded schools overall (76%).The department aims to support the diversity of the workforce through our communications campaigns, workforce programmes that support all teachers to develop across their careers, and policies to support the workforce, such as flexible working. For example, the Get Into Teaching marketing campaign supports diverse recruitment into the profession through inclusive recruitment campaigns and marketing materials, which strive to reflect the diversity of our target audiences who want reassurance that teaching is for people like them. The campaign regularly showcases STEM teachers from diverse backgrounds.The department supports a range of work to improve diversity and inclusion in STEM education in schools, including funding a Stimulating Physics Network to improve the quality of physics teaching and improve progression to A level physics, particularly for girls.More widely, the government supports girls and pupils from other underrepresented groups into STEM education through programmes such as the CyberFirst Girls competition which aims to promote cybersecurity careers to girls aged between 12 and 14.The government also funds the STEM Ambassadors programme, a nationwide network of over 30,000 registered volunteers representing thousands of employers, who engage with young people to increase their interest in STEM subjects and to raise awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications offer. Approximately 48% of Ambassadors are women and 17% are from minority ethnic backgrounds, providing young people with a variety of role models.

Personal Care Services: T-levels

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what are theirreasons for scrapping plans to introduce T-levels in hairdressing and barbering.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish proposals for a beauty therapy qualification.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent on the development and management of the proposed T-levels in hairdressing and barbering.

Baroness Barran: The decision to no longer introduce a combined T Level in Hairdressing, Barbering and Beauty Therapy was taken following discussions with employers and representatives of the hair and beauty sector. The feedback the department has had from the hair sector representatives has led the department to the conclusion that the best route is for learners to progress into their industry through completion of an existing level 2 or level 3 apprenticeship or a level 2 classroom-based qualification.The beauty sector has fed back that a good quality level 3 classroom-based progression route is desirable. Therefore, the department has decided to explore introducing a T Level which focuses on the beauty sector, with the expectation that this could be introduced after 2025. The department will update stakeholders in due course following scoping work and engagement with the beauty sector and T Level providers.Payment of the development charge made to the Awarding Organisation to date is £450,990 (excluding VAT). This is for the development of the originally scoped Hairdressing, Barbering and Beauty Therapy T Level. The department anticipates that a substantial proportion of that content will remain relevant in any future T Level focussed on beauty.

Cabinet Office

Office for National Statistics: Operating Costs

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government what was thecost of running the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Integrated Data Service in 2023; how many projects were active in the Integrated Data Service in 2023; and what are the equivalent figures for the ONS Secure Research Service for the same period.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Noble Lord’s Question of 5th February is attached. The Lord Clement-Jones CBEHouse of Lords LondonSW1A 0AA13 February 2024 Dear Lord Clement-Jones, As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking (1) what was the cost of running the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Integrated Data Service in 2023; (2) how many projects were active in the Integrated Data Service in 2023; and (3, 4) what are the equivalent figures for the ONS Secure Research Service for the same period (HL2184). The approximate costs of running the nascent Integrated Data Service in 2023 were £4,200,000, including infrastructure costs that permit future scaling of the service. There were 20 active projects within the Integrated Data Service in 2023. The cost of running the ONS Secure Research Service in 2023 were £7,000,000. The Secure Research Service had a total of 842 projects during 2023. On average, there were around 600 live projects at any one time during 2023. Equivalent operating costs and projects numbers should be interpreted with caution. The Integrated Data Service (IDS) is in development and currently operates within a BETA maturity phase. In September 2023 IDS received Digital Economy Act (2017) accreditation for data provision, making IDS the first cloud-native trusted research environment to be accredited for data provision under the legislation and opening the opportunity to scale. The IDS is built to be future proofed, to better enable the Government’s data sharing agenda in a more effective and efficient way. The IDS will grow at pace over the remainder of the programme with a pipeline of additional and transformational capability, data, projects and users which exceed the capabilities of the Secure Research Service (SRS). Improved data integration and cross-sector collaboration enabled through cloud technologies will drive significant uptake. The SRS is a long-standing and mature Trusted Research Environment which has operated in its current form since 2017, having previously operated as the Virtual Microdata Laboratory (VML) from 2004. The SRS grew rapidly upon achieving DEA accreditation in 2019, which enabled greater expansion of its data catalogue and user base. An improved trajectory is anticipated for the IDS with many SRS’s data sets, as well as projects (where applicable) migrating to the IDS as part of a transition that is underway. Yours sincerely.Professor Sir Ian Diamond UK Statistics Authority (pdf, 108.4KB)

Department for Business and Trade

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Overseas Companies

Baroness Helic: To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) financial, and (2) non-financial, support they have provided to UK firms operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2020; and whether this support is contingent on any (a) environmental, or (b) transparency, commitments.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: We have not provided financial support to UK businesses operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2020. The Department for Business and Trade's Export Strategy sets out the support available, including the Export Support Service, a Country Director based in Sarajevo, the PM's Trade Envoy for the Western Balkans and a UK Export Finance Officer covering the region. UK companies focused on the green transition are a strategic priority for this support. Any UKEF support would follow robust transaction due diligence to ensure that any projects or contracts supported meet stringent international Environmental, Social and Human Rights standards.

Business: Accountability

Viscount Waverley: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to make environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting mandatory by UK companies.

Lord Offord of Garvel: Reporting on ESG matters provides transparency to investors and other stakeholders, improving investment decisions. In particular, the Government supports the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board, which aims to align sustainability reporting globally, enabling investors compare investment decisions across markets.The Government believes that a mix of voluntary and mandatory reporting provides the right balance between transparency and reducing burdens on companies. Further detail on the Government’s future plans is provided by Mobilising Green Investment - 2023 Green Finance Strategy.

Business: Accountability

Viscount Waverley: To ask His Majesty's Government what their policy is towards promoting environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles among UK companies.

Lord Offord of Garvel: The Companies Act 2006 requires directors to have regard to impact of a company’s operations on the community and environment when exercising their duties. It also requires certain companies to provide information regarding environmental matters and social, community and human rights issues within their annual reports.The Government’s future plans to encourage companies to consider the impact of environmental, social and governance issues are set out in Mobilising Green Investment - 2023 Green Finance Strategy. This includes the Government’s plans to assess the suitability of the standards that were recently published by the International Sustainability Standards Board for use in the UK.

Business: Accountability

Viscount Waverley: To ask His Majesty's Government whether their approach regarding environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria differs from that of the European Union and, if so, in which areas.

Lord Offord of Garvel: The Government’s plans regarding company reporting on environmental, social and governance matters are set out in Mobilising Green Investment – 2023 Green Finance Strategy (March 2023). These plans differ from the European Union’s (EU) plans in several areas. Specifically, the UK will not adopt the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. Instead, the UK Government has stated its support for the International Sustainability Disclosure Standards and we are currently assessing the suitability for UK companies of the first two standards that have been issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners: Parents

Lord Farmer: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in identifying prisoners’ children, by sex and age, and obtaining other relevant data for their welfare, through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data programme.

Lord Farmer: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in collecting data on prisoners who are primary carers and their children through the Basic Custody Screening Tool so that this information can be accessed centrally.

Lord Farmer: To ask His Majesty's Government what is their most recent estimate for the number of children with (1) a parent in prison, and (2) a primary carer in prison.

Lord Bellamy: The Ministry of Justice’s most comprehensive estimate remains that over the course of a year, approximately 200,000 children may be affected by a parent being in or going to prison. This estimate is based on 2009 survey data.The Prison Strategy White paper detailed our intention to work with other government departments to commission updated research to improve our collective understanding of the overall number of children affected by parental incarceration.As part of this work, changes have been made to the Basic Custody Screening Tool (BCST) to enable us to collect data on entry to prison about how many primary carers are in custody and how many children under the age of 18 are affected by their imprisonment, which means that we can access this information centrally. Questions contained within the BCST are under continuous review to reflect learning from operational colleagues and people with lived experience of prison. While the BCST does include questions on the sex and ages of dependents of prisoners, the collection of this information relies solely on self-declaration of the parent in prison and therefore may raise challenges as to the accuracy or consistency of this information without being able to verify with other sources.The Government is delivering on its white paper commitment to improve our data and evidence in this area, through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a £19.7m cross government Shared Outcomes Fund programme which is linking data to enable better evidenced and more joined up cross government services. The purpose of BOLD is to identify the overall scale of the issue by improving our understanding of the number of children affected by parental imprisonment. The BOLD programme aims to do this by exploring data available across government, including information that does not rely on self-disclosure. We expect findings from the project to be published in Spring 2024.

Department of Health and Social Care

Medical Equipment and Protective Clothing: China

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government how much personal protective clothing and other medical items stored in China by the NHS remains in storage; what has been the accumulated cost of storage; how much has been destroyed; and what will happen to that which remains.

Lord Markham: Since July 2023 all of the Department’s personal protective equipment stock has been stored at sites within the United Kingdom. The total cost of storing items in the freeport in China was £60.6 million for the years 2020 until 2023, when we exited the site.3,058 million items stored in China, or around 80% of the total volume, were sent to the UK for use in health and social care settings. 57 million items, or around 1.5% of the total volume, have been donated. 699 million items, or around 8% of the total volume, were recycled into energy from waste, which was by far the most cost-effective means of disposal readily available.

Medical Equipment: Coronavirus

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Markham on 24 January (HL1768), how many of each of the categories of equipment contained in that answer (1) are being offered or have been offered for sale in the period up to 31 March, (2) have been destroyed, (3) are scheduled for destruction, and (4) have been donated, or will be donated, to medical charities for use overseas, including but not confined to Ukraine.

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Markham on 24 January (HL1768),how much money has been raised to date from the auction of equipment listed in that answer.

Lord Markham: The COVID Strategic ICU Reserve was set up in April 2020, in response to shortages in key respiratory equipment and in anticipation of increased demand during the pandemic. Over the last two years, the National Health Service has not needed to access the reserve to manage increases in the numbers of respiratory patients. With lack of demand from the NHS, and increasing costs associated with storing and maintaining ageing equipment, the decision was taken to close the reserve by March 2024.Information on the money raised from the auction of equipment is not currently available. The following table shows the planned disposal routes for equipment within the COVID Strategic Intensive Care Unit Reserve from 1 December 2023 to 31 March 2024: Holdings at December 2023Offered or offering for saleHave been destroyedScheduled for destructionDonated to medical charities for use overseasEnteral feed pumps114010251000Humidifiers47141456032580Mechanical ventilator - Anaesthetic53170360Mechanical ventilator - Emergency5093114031597920Mechanical ventilator - ICU30833075000Mechanical ventilator - Transport94914807890Non-invasive Ventilator (NIV) bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPaP)3339308502520NIV continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)6682070259800NIV high flow nasal oxygen (HFNO)187155000Oxygen concentrators287428610130Oxygen regulators15641461000Patient monitors24392353000Suction pumps307289000Syringe drivers213198000931839760Volumetric pumps15881563000 Notes:The table does not include equipment that has been deployed to the NHS across the United Kingdom since December 2023, and so the sum of the disposal columns will not equal the December 2023 holdings. Information reflects plans as of 5 February 2024.Until the final closure of the reserve in March 2024, we will continue to respond to requests from the NHS and overseas meaning these plans are subject to change.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with NHS England regarding the concerns expressed by the Advisory Group on Data (AGD) at their meeting on 11 January about the Data, Digital and Technology Committee (DDaTC) meeting on the 12 July 2023, including (1) that the AGD had not been informed that its draft Terms of Reference had been submitted to DDaTC, (2) that the AGD was not informed about any DDaTC feedback on the AGD Terms of Reference, and (3) that the content of DDaTC minutes suggested a possible misunderstanding of AGD’s advisory role.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the meeting of the Advisory Group on Data (AGD) on 11 January, what discussions they have had with NHS England regarding AGD’s request that the version control on its draft Terms of Reference be updated to reflect the full circulation of the document, and the timing of such circulation.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the meeting of the Advisory Group on Data (AGD) on 11 January, what discussions they have had with NHS England regarding AGD’s request to see the next draft of its draft Terms of Reference before it is moved on to the next stage of ratification.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what changes have been made to the draft Terms of Reference for the Advisory Group on Data since April 2023; and which part of NHS England was responsible for making those changes.

Lord Markham: The Department has had no discussions with NHS England regarding the July 2023 meeting of the Data, Digital and Technology Committee, or regarding the Advisory Group for Data’s (AGD) request that the version control on its draft terms of reference be updated to reflect the full circulation of the document, as well as the timing of the circulation.The role of the advisory group is set out within the statutory guidance issued by the Department, in NHS England’s protection of patient data. We understand that the terms of reference for the AGD are currently in draft, with version control reflecting formal drafts as issued. NHS England, through the Privacy, Transparency and Trust team in the Delivery Directorate, has received feedback on the drafts, which will be published in due course following approval by, or on behalf of, the NHS England board.